🧠 The 2025 ad playbook: Make better ads, scale faster

Welcome back to the 66th edition of Nord Media

Before we get started, make sure you get that special someone in your life flowers today. Happy Valentine’s Day 🫶

In 2011, Old Spice was just another drugstore deodorant. Nothing exciting, nothing viral. 

Then, they took a massive creative risk with The Man Your Man Could Smell Like campaign. 

The result was a cultural phenomenon that exploded into the mainstream, doubling sales in just a few months.

The ad succeeded because it was a complete departure from every other personal care ad at the time. 

It was weird, fast-paced, and highly engaging. Something you wanted to watch, not just an ad you skipped.

Most brands don’t scale because they don’t take big enough swings. 

They tweak, iterate, and optimize, but they don’t truly disrupt. 

The brands that do dominate their category and set new creative benchmarks.

2025 is the year to stop playing it safe. If you want to break out and scale aggressively, you need to:

1. Ditch Safe, Make Something Worth Watching

2. Test 10x More. But Smarter

3. Think Distribution First

4. Spend More, Smarter

Here’s how you do it:

Ditch Safe, Make Something Worth Watching

Most ads today are forgettable. 

Same format. Same messaging. Same over-reliance on AI-generated scripts that sound polished but have zero personality.

And that’s the problem. 

If you want to make an impact, your ad needs to:

• Hook instantly: The first 3 seconds matter more than the next 30.

• Break patterns: If it looks and sounds like every other ad, it’s dead on arrival.

• Evoke emotion: Humor, curiosity, nostalgia, or controversy: tap into what makes people feel something.

Instead of tweaking a headline for the 50th time, ask yourself: Would I watch this ad if it wasn’t my own?

• Flip your creative process: Start with the punchline, the moment of intrigue, or the unexpected, then build the ad around that.

• Borrow from culture: Use viral trends, pop culture references, and meme formats to make your brand feel alive.

• Make the product secondary: Sounds counterintuitive, but the best ads don’t feel like ads. They tell stories where the product is naturally embedded.

If your creative doesn’t force someone to stop scrolling, laugh, or share it, you’re wasting ad spend.

Test 10x More. But Smarter

"Test more ads" is generic advice. But not all tests are valuable.

Most brands waste their testing budget on small, insignificant changes. Tiny color shifts, slight copy tweaks, or subtle layout adjustments. 

But the biggest wins come from testing radically different concepts.

Instead of tweaking details, focus on high-impact variables:

• Angles → Lead with social proof vs. education vs. emotional storytelling.

• Formats → UGC-style testimonial vs. cinematic ad vs. fast-cut meme-style.

• Editing Pace → Slow-burn narrative vs. rapid-fire, attention-grabbing sequences.

A brand that scales from $1M to $10M in revenue doesn’t do it by running one winning ad. 

They get there by systematically testing dozens of bold ideas, finding winners, and ruthlessly scaling what works.

Don’t fall in love with your first idea. 

Every ad is an experiment. The moment you think you’ve cracked the formula, you’re already behind.

A strong testing framework for 2025 should look like this:

1. Start with multiple creative directions: At least 5-7 variations with different angles.

2. Launch with small budgets: $500-$1,000 per test to gauge early traction.

3. Identify patterns in winners: What format, messaging, or creative element consistently performs?

4. Scale fast: Once you have a winning concept, put more dollars behind it while tweaking for optimization.

The brands that win are testing smarter rather than faster.

Think Distribution First

Most brands treat distribution as an afterthought. They make an ad, then decide where to place it. 

But the best advertisers design their creative specifically for each platform.

Every platform has a different audience mindset, format, and algorithm. The same ad that crushes on Meta might flop on TikTok.

• TikTok → Prioritize native, lo-fi content. Quick cuts, raw storytelling, and organic-feeling hooks work best.

• Meta (Facebook & Instagram) → A mix of UGC and high-production works, but the key is clear, direct messaging with strong visual contrast.

• YouTube → You have more time. Longer storytelling formats perform well, but the hook still needs to grab attention within the first 5 seconds.

• Google Display & Native Ads → Direct response wins here. Headlines and visuals should be designed for quick comprehension.

A good rule of thumb: If your ad could live anywhere, it belongs nowhere. Make it platform-specific from the start.

Spend More, Smarter

Scaling doesn’t happen without increasing ad spend. But throwing money at ads without a strategic plan is how brands go broke.

The key is knowing when and how to invest more.

• Scale insights: If an ad works, ask why. Was it the format? The message? The pacing? Use that insight to create more winning variations.

• Use budget tiers:

$500-$1,000 → Initial testing (Find out what works)

$5,000-$10,000 → Scaling winners (Double down)

$50,000+ → Full-scale domination (Maximize returns with optimized creatives)

• Leverage first-party data: Retargeting isn’t just about abandoned carts. Use customer insights to build better prospecting audiences and increase LTV.

Adjust spend based on momentum: If an ad is peaking, don’t wait. Scale aggressively before it fatigues.

Closing Thoughts

Every breakthrough campaign, whether it’s Dollar Shave Club, Liquid Death, or Duolingo’s unhinged TikTok strategy, came from taking a risk.

If your ad strategy for 2025 looks like a slightly optimized version of 2024, you’re already behind.

Take bigger swings. Make better ads. Scale faster.

The brands that do will own their category. The ones that don’t will be stuck optimizing in circles.

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Thank you for reading! I appreciate you.

Sincerely,
Kody